Supreme Court issues notice on pleas by West Bengal, Kerala over Governors delaying bills

The Supreme Court on July 26 issued notices on petitions filed by Kerala and West Bengal state governments challenging governor’s action to delay assent on bills by referring it to the President.

Both states said in the petitions that the Governors were sitting on at least 8 Bills for over a year without communicating any reasons.

The top court bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Paridwala, and Justice Manoj Misra issued notices to the Union government through the Home Ministry. 

In case of Kerala's petition challenging the action of President in withholding assent for four bills and the action of Governor in referring those bills to the President, the SC issued notice to the Union government and Additional Chief Secretary to the governor, legal news agency LiveLaw

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Kerala, said they were challenging the governor's decision to refer bills for consideration by the president, according to legal news website LiveLaw.

In case of West Bengal, senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Jaideep Gupta, said every time the matter was listed in the Supreme Court, the office of the governor referred bills to the president.

(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates)